Armies on Parade: October 15, 2016

Welcome to sunny Westminster, CA. According to the city's Facebook page, top attractions are the Huntington Beach Harley Davidson (which isn't in Westminster [WTF?!?]) and the Westminster Memorial Park and Mortuary.

I guess the Games Workshop store doesn't qualify? Horseshit!

Anyway, Westminster is in the middle of nowhere, about a 40 minute drive for me. It's the closest flagship. The entire city of Los Angeles is devoid of GW stores. I guess models and failed actors aren't into the hobby. At any rate, Westminster is kinda cool because it contains a large population of Vietnamese that were originally brought over when Saigon fell in 1975.

What these means to me is one thing: damn good food everywhere...Namely Pho (pronounced "fuh"), vermicelli noodle salad and one of the greatest sandwiches to grace the Emperor's green Earth, the banh mi.

So wait, this is a Warhammer 40,000 blog is it not? Patience Fucko, read on and the geek stuff will follow.


My heart sinks a bit when I come here because there was an awesome Vietnamese restaurant right by the Hobby Bunker in Malden, MA where Sean and I typically used to chow down between turns 2 and 3. Odd thing is, most Vietnamese restaurants are esthetically all the same. There's usually a fountain of some kind providing ambience, theres some jade Buddhas keeping the spiritual vibe and little bamboo plants for that extra touch of fung shui. It's like taking the Narnia doorway but instead of another land you're transported to the same restaurant with the same menu and the same disgruntled employees.

Despite my observation about the decor, I suggest that hobbyists try some of this delicious grub. Maybe forgo the Wendy's, McDumps, or mediocre pizza for some quality, healthy food.

So I arrive at the shopping plaza with my dog, Clyde, and park. I pack my arms full of display board, Khorne army tote and large tupperware full of toys, turn the corner and nearly run into two gorgeous Asian women in short skirts. The look they gave me was priceless. It was sort of like "What kind of strange, white, dorky creature is this and what in hell is he carrying?"

Let's face it, fellas, the hobby doesn't exactly attract the opposite sex. In fact, it seems more of a repellent. Lucky for me I've got a fantastic woman who digs the models. Yes, they are out there.

On to the show...

Armies on Parade.

Smarmies don't sashay.

Schwarma turd grenade.

Disarm me or I'll wear suede.

Bacardi lubin' up that shillelagh.

Calamari on the edge of a knife blade.

I'll just go down the list here.

 This was Mechanicum and Chaos I think.

 Angel Dark...I mean Dark Angels with a knight. This dude is always in the store when I go. Maybe we're on the same schedule. He had some cool OOP metal scouts.

This is Angel Dark. Hey, it's my fucking blog and I can put up pictures of my favorite pornstars if I want to. Now fuck off.

 Some nice Eldar here. This dude didn't get a lot of votes, or any for that matter, but his painting was some of the cleanest I've seen. Perhaps his display lacked large, dynamic models to draw more attention to his smaller guys? I don't know.

 A Dark Eldar fella. Cool army. Could've used more detail on the flat green of the models, but otherwise a very cool army with some neat conversions--namely the wracks were built from Talos parts and Crypt Horrors. Good stuff. 

Yeah, some mighty fine conversion opportunities with those Crypt Horrors there.

In my opinion, this titan display stole the show. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had probably lost the contest. 

 Here's a close up of a bullet passing through a hormagaunt. Fantastic work.

 Here's the Swarmlord dicing up a dread.

 Great display...Although much of the work was airbrushed. Now, I hate to start this debate, but I feel airbrushing isn't as strong as hand painted stuff. Sue me.

 There's always a nid player...God bless them...

 Here's my mighty Khorne Daemonkin. This display board is the only one of three I could transport from my move to LA. It's a little larger than 2x2.

 Some well painted orcs.

 Tau...

 Skaven...

 These guys were a Salamander successor chapter dubbed the Frostdrakes. Good stuff here. This guy got the bronze.

 Some well painted Nightlords.

 I dug these dudes.

 Here's the army I voted for. Some orcs with lots of cool conversions and a good mix of old and new models.

 This is a Khorne Slaughterpriest conversion.

And this model...Well it's just plain badass.

Drumroll...

The titan display won silver.

Shit, I thought, am I in the running? The Dark Eldar had a bunch of votes, I knew that.

The store manager Chris announced the winner...Khorne Daemonkin! Sweet! Maybe he'll remember my name...

Most of the dudes that voted for me dug the conversions and that's what got me the big W in the end.

Here's a sample of those unconventional models I threw down.

 I you're a dedicated reader, you should remember dude man from this wacky post here. I changed out the sword after it broke off and decided to replace it with a proper axe of Khorne.

 Vroom vroom.

 One of my favorites.

And of course, the squad that started this crazy Khorne army over two years ago...

All for now.